Morocco sees slight decrease in jobless rate in Q3

RABAT, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) — The unemployment rate in Morocco slightly decreased to 10 percent in the third quarter of 2018, down from 10.6 percent a year ago, the official planning commission said Monday.

According to a note by the High Commission for Planning, the drop in unemployment came after 122,000 new jobs were created between September 2017 and the same month of this year despite the loss of 58,000 other jobs during the same period.

Services, industry and agriculture created 98,000, 19,000 and 9,000 jobs respectively, while construction lost 4,000 jobs, the note said.

Unemployment remains high for young people, college graduates and women, hitting 27.5 percent, 17.1 percent and 13.8 percent respectively.

The Moroccan government has pledged to reduce the unemployment rate to 8.5 percent by 2021.